We Need Your Prayers

Many of you know that we are expecting our second child in April. We found out two weeks ago that Katelyn is going to have a little sister. The thorough ultrasound Judy received in Klamath Falls, Oregon, appeared to show nothing out of the ordinary.

Before returning to Boise last week (for good), we found out that there appears to be a problem that could be extremely serious, but it wasn’t conclusive. We were told to see a specialist upon our return to Boise. Today the specialists here confirmed that our daughter’s organs are not developing properly.


The technical name for the condition is Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH), which occurs in 1 out of every 2,000 to 3,000 pregnancies. The diaphragm is a muscle that helps us to breathe and keeps the organs in the abdomen from going into the chest cavity. Basically, our daughter’s diaphragm had (or has) a hole in it that has allowed the stomach to pass into the upper regions of her chest cavity, which caused her heart to be pushed to the opposite side of her chest. Her chest is too overcrowded to allow her lungs to correctly develop and could also affect the development of her heart. Also, there may be other problems that are too early to detect.

The doctors explained to us that our daughter’s chance of surviving the birth process is 20% (1 out of 5). If she survives those odds, she will require several surgeries to place her organs in their correct places. We were told that the success rate for her to lead a normal, healthy life is 5% (1 out of 20). This means that at this point, her chance of surviving the birth process and going through the required surgeries and having a normal, healthy life is 1% (1 out of 100). Most babies that survive the surgeries (around 20%) end up having many health problems, including lung infections, reduced lung capacity, and heart problems.

We were obviously devastated by this news. We always thought that these types of problems happen to other people, but could never happen to us. We’re sad, confused, disappointed, stressed out, in shock, etc.

Our options are pretty limited. While ending the pregnancy is an option for some people, we are reminded that the God who created this world is powerful enough to fix our daughter’s problems. The doctors explained that her condition cannot be reversed naturally at this point in the pregnancy. So barring a divine miracle while in the womb, our hope rests on her surviving the birth with some lung capacity and a strong heart, and having a great surgical team.

We couldn’t keep this horrible news to ourselves as we need to rely on our friends and families for support and, more importantly, for your prayers. God desires that through prayer we present our requests to him with thanksgiving. We know that miracles happen when people pray.

While we are hopeful, we are also realistic. Whether or not our daughter survives, we know that God is good. That’s the only thing we can be certain of.

It has been a crazy year with the move from Bellingham to Boise, then selling our home, then moving to Klamath Falls temporarily, then getting pregnant, then going to Europe for two weeks as a family, then Judy’s father’s stroke, then returning to Boise, then our current news.

Please support our family in prayer. Please don’t feel sorry for us or feel awkward around us. We are open to talking about this situation. We just ask that you give us a few days to take this all in.

Sincerely,

Bryan, Judy, and Katelyn